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These look sweet. Hope you enjoy them as much as your Heijis. I'm curious about something in the photo. Lighting can exaggerate a lot of things and create illusions but what is that at the top of the handle? Bumps?

Picked these up from the post office, this morning. They are both gorgeous, but quite different knives. The Aogami 1, which is the bottom knife, immediately feels right in my hand. It's somewhat like a Heiji that has been put on a pretty major weight loss routine. It's very light, and very thin at the edge, but still a knife of a fair size. The Ginsanko is a very different knife. It's much more delicate, and even thinner at the edge. Very light. Both knives seem quite stiff. The Ginsasnko doesn't appear to have a final edge, as it doesn't grab a finger nail, and the tip is slightly rounded, and the Aogami has a slight hole at the heel, but both things are common on new Japanese knives, and both things are immediately fixed by a first sharpening (as most people who buy knives like this would do, I imagine).

The fit and finish on both knives is beautiful, though the spine on the Ginsanko is fairly sharp, whereas it's beautifully rounded on the Aogami. If I understand Jon's video correctly, these knives are made by different smiths, so the detail differences are natural. The geometry on both knives looks wonderful, and both have a very nice, if slightly different from each other, profile. The handles are gorgeous, no two ways about it. The lacquer on the handles seems very hard, so I'm not nearly as concerned about using the knives as I was before having them in hand. I wet my hands at the break room sink and then mimed cutting with both knives, and I had a sure grip. Balance on both knives is much more neutral than with my fairly blade heavy Heijis. I obviously haven't used either knife for cutting yet, but I'm pretty sure I'm going to immediately take to the Aogami. The Ginsanko may be lighter than I like, these days, but I'm looking forward to trying it. Despite the beautiful handles, and the overall presentation, the knives are obviously made to be used, which I like a lot.

Sometimes when you spend a lot of money on something, basically sight unseen, you have a slight buyer's remorse upon getting the product in hand, even if you end up being pleased. By god is that not the case with these! These are the most elegant tools I've ever had in hand, and I can't wait to get to know them.